Walking Dead Wizard
Chapter 127
Ezekiel followed the group, nothing but gross fascination suffusing him, along with a sense of complete disbelief. Men couldn't have children; they didn't have the parts to do so. His reality had been ripped from him, and patched up with new information that was unknown to him. Again, men shouldn't be able to get pregnant, how could Harry? Did it happen all the time? Could all magical wizards get pregnant? How did it happen? He could only imagine a grotesque hole opening up in the belly or where his penis was to give room for a child to emerge. Now that made him shudder at the mere idea. It was too alien for him to contemplate. It was like watching a train wreck, you knew it was going to be awful but couldn't walk away.
How many people could say they'd seen a male give birth? He disgustedly wondered if it would even look human. Such thoughts shamed him, but he couldn't help it. With no warning, it was understandable that he'd find it difficult to digest that Harry Potter was pregnant and just about to give birth.
The others must be thinking something similar, since almost everyone (and others) made their way to what used to be the doctors surgery. It was clearly still used as one, he realized as they entered, everything was exactly as it used to be, even had doctors apparently, who immediately moved to Severus as both of them began to prepare.
"Is this some sort of joke? A test of some kind?" Ezekiel asked Carol, she was one of the few he recognized from his introduction to the group way back then. She seemed kind, too kind to lie, thus he had elected to ask her.
"No," Carol explained, shaking her head, no it wasn't a test or a joke.
"Is he physically a she?" Ezekiel asked, perhaps going through the change before the world ended? Not sure why he phrased it as a question, for surely that had to be it. He considered himself a male even if he had female parts. He was rather disappointed in himself for not seeing it sooner.
Carol laughed softly, shaking her head, "Good God, no," fiddling with her gold cross pendant she'd worn since before the apocalypse had consumed all their lives. At least she didn't think so, but what went on in people's private lives was completely different. Blanching a little when Harry's trousers were pulled down a little more, instinctively looking to make sure Sophia wasn't seeing this. She wasn't there, but she didn't have to worry, it was no more visibility than there would be at any scan, just tufts of hair.
"Just how exactly will this 'baby' come out?" Ezekiel questioned everyone, his tone held more doubt and sarcasm than he'd wished. "Sorry, I didn't mean that how it sounded." Grimacing apologetically, he couldn't alienate the group, not with how much they'd helped them, he owed them everything, more so for his Shiva.
"Come closer, have a look," Hershel gestured for the man to step forth, making a mental note to ask him if he wished his hair tended to, but for it being an apocalypse it was decent enough. He recalled seeing the hair maintenance for his hair type while in the trunk. While they had many men and women of African-American descent, only Michonne needed the haircare products. Bob, Noah and the others all kept their hair short, the less they had the least they needed to bother with it.
Ezekiel gave the elder gentlemen a wary look, before shuffled forward, only to be met with the sight of a wand being used against Harry's stomach and a screen to project above him. His breathing hitched, definitely a man, he realized, seeing the adams apple, it was true, there were babes in his belly. "Is this normal for magical kind?" he croaked out, he knew some animals were capable of it, was it something of an evolutionary idea now to make up for the lack of females due to the world ending?
"Very normal," Harry replied, barely wincing at the pain pulsing through his body.
"What happens?" Ezekiel asked, utterly fascinated, as he stared at the magical picture projecting not just one but two babies.
"In roughly five minutes the sac will be thin enough for magic to safely penetrate, and retrieve the babies within," Hershel informed him, he'd studied everything Severus had given him. He might not possess a drop of magic, but his desire to learn had never been greater. He was so completely fascinated by what magic could do, he spent hours conversing with Severus in regards to magical capabilities.
"So, they don't get to suffer as a woman does when it comes to childbirth? Sounds very unfair," Andrea teased, as she made her way into the room, which was quickly becoming packed with people far too curious for their own good.
Harry laughed, but had to concede her point, the ten minutes of agony was nothing on how long some women ended up in labour, sometimes days waiting for that all important babe in their arms.
"How does it feel?" Andrea asked, casually sitting next to Daryl, recalling a time when she would have rather been shot, to her amusement.
"Do you want to feel it?" Harry asked, green eyes gleaming.
Andrea straightened, staring at Harry, not even asking if he was joking, she knew he didn't joke. However, she couldn't stand down from a challenge. "Alright," she said, how bad could it be? They were sitting having a conversation (well, Harry was lying down).
Harry gestured for her to come forward, he wasn't sure he could sit up, he felt like he was being crushed from the inside. He grasped a hold of her hand, and asked her to look at him, he slid into her mind, and not so subtly broadcasted his pain he only did it because she was still sitting, if she hadn't been, Andrea would have been on the floor the second the merge began.
Andrea snatched her hand back, her skin paling rapidly making her look slightly ill. "How are you still conscious?" she was horrified, was that what women went through? For hours upon hours to give birth? If so, she was glad she hadn't put herself through that, a child definitely wasn't worth it, she thought to herself. Being a mother wasn't for her, and it hadn't changed, even now. Definitely now, she wouldn't be able to cope with that much pain. Her mother must have been mad to do it twice.
"Been through worse," Harry said with a grin, which faltered quite quickly into a grimace of pain.
"Rather you than me," Andrea declared, truly this had just been the icing on the top as to why she never wanted to experience motherhood.
Carol laughed, "Andrea!" she admonished the woman, "What would Dale think?" she added teasingly.
Andrea rolled her eyes, good naturally, in the absence of her own family, her own parents, Dale had become a father figure to her and her sister Amy. Neither really needed a father, their own had been loving but stern, especially in his regards in wishing for them to succeed in their chosen careers. Amy hadn't experienced it, she'd just finished school when the pandemic started and had been visiting her, to give their parents time to enjoy their anniversary for a week, they'd just returned when all went to hell. It had been a welcome distraction, but Dale would never replace their father.
"How did it feel?" Ezekiel questioned, glancing at Andrea, he wasn't above admitting he didn't have the guts to attempt what Andrea did. The look of agony that had crossed her face was enough for him, thank you, very much.
"Let's just say I very much doubt I'll ever get pregnant." Andrea told him ruefully, "Which is rather inconvenient with us out of contraception completely." There wasn't a single condom left out of the load they'd managed to get. Apparently, someone had screwed up and not left a single one in its original form for Harry to make duplicates, and thus far they hadn't come across any condoms. Even expired ones, which apparently would work but Harry didn't want to use an expired one because there was no guarantee.
"There are more permanent measures one can take," Severus told her, "If you are serious about it, come and talk to me after this is done."
Andrea perked up, delighted to hear it, wondering what this 'permanent measure' could actually be. With magic though it could be anything, she couldn't begin to guess. It mattered not, she didn't want a child, not in this world, it was difficult enough to survive never mind bringing forth a child to toil away in future in a world that had spiralled out of control. She didn't blame anyone for wishing to have a child – who was she kidding, she'd judged Lori to hell and back, but they didn't have the safe sanctuary that they did now when she got pregnant – but it just wasn't for her.
"For now, you all need to leave." Severus declared, giving them the shooing motion with his hands.
The immediate protest was loud, so much so Severus winced, he had grown accustomed to the quietness. Even if he didn't like the reason for it, children should be loud, the looks on their faces, as they tried to be silent, watchful and wary looking over their shoulders. He'd done that himself once upon a time, in what should have been the safety of his own home.
Severus gaze was enough to have a few people slipping outside, content to wait it out in the surgery's waiting room. He could see how stressful the situation was on Daryl, even if Harry couldn't care less, he'd spent his entire life under the microscope of the British Magical society that he didn't even notice it anymore. At first glance they weren't a couple you'd think would do well together, but they did.
"It's been ten minutes," Hershel reminded him, frowning, he took everything quite literal and he presumed Severus gave very accurate timings and readings. "Is it normal?"
Severus gaze swung around to Hershel, before frowning himself, which gave his features a harsh edge that people rarely wanted to leave than stay and watch. "It's not ready yet." The layer hadn't faded yet, until it did, they couldn't do anything to begin the process.
"What's the longest anyone's had to wait?" Daryl asked, even though he presumed to know the answer, he was hoping the docs had different answers.
Severus paused for a moment before confessing, "Ten minutes." It was the longest anyone had waited for they called the magical barrier to loosen up and come down. It was a protective barrier that allowed neither instrument or magic to penetrate the sac to remove the babe inside. Hershel's reaction to that information had been rather hilarious if he had to confess.
Daryl swallowed thickly, fingers twitching, "What happens if it goes longer?" what if it didn't come down? What would become of the babies? What would become of Harry? He didn't even need to ponder, he'd pick Harry over the babies any day, he didn't want to be without him. As much as the idea of him becoming a father thrilled him, he didn't want it without Harry.
"Neither Harry or the twins are showing any signs of distress, so best not to panic right now," Severus replied, watching a man he didn't know what the scan with such incredulity that he almost found it amusing.
Harry threw him a glare, he was in distress, it was bloody well painful, it was radiating all the way up his body and now beginning to cause immense pain to his lower extremities. The only thing stopping him from truly panicking is because so far, the books had been pretty accurate on his experiences thus far. Although, the books he'd read were pretty outdated, the more to date ones were mundane/muggle ones. "You really should…ouch, have continued the meeting." He confessed.
Daryl scoffed, "There wouldn't be a meeting if not for you, it can wait."
"I'm not sure about that…" Ezekiel complained, he was sitting next to Daryl, although, there was an empty chair between them. "That thing was dreadful, and I don't want to use it again." he did wonder why there were so many chairs in the room, usually there were only one or two – three if you included the doctors – chairs overall.
"That thing?" Severus asked, lips twitching as he suppressed the desire to laugh.
"Portkey, we didn't give The Kingdom a cupboard," Daryl explained, not even looking at either man, his focus was Harry who was actually sweating, and lightly trembling but remaining stubbornly silent.
Severus nodded, despite the fact Daryl wasn't looking, pleased to hear that. It was one thing to give to The Savior compound – those in charge of the place were magical – but to give to The Kingdom an utterly non-magical society (that they knew anyway) wasn't exactly the best idea. Not that they had to fear someone coming through without them knowing, Harry had a whole slew of wards up ensuring his peoples safety. The war had left him cautious, left a lot of them extra cautious and suspicious. It helped these days. Although, the tiger thing did rouse his curiosity, there was no way – even if the tiger imprinted on him when it was young – that it should listen to him even now? Fully grown adult? He suspected the man was a squib, or even a low-level wizard capable of talking to animals of compelling them to an extent. "They can be troublesome to begin with, but with experience and time it will be as easy as breathing."
Ezekiel stared at the black-haired man with a dubious look, not believing it for a second. He wasn't the first one to state as such, Merle and Harry himself had said it got better. He honestly felt as if his insides had been turned inside out.
Severus' lips thinned displeased by the number of people still inside the room. Daryl while not the most sociable person, would very easily tell them all to fuck off if he actually wanted them gone. If Harry so much as whispered the idea of it to Daryl, he'd again tell them off. He did want to give them some marginal privacy, with a flick of his wand, he accomplished this.
The rail on the ceiling for the curtain begun to move as if it were liquid, until it had bulged out of its position, taking a new one. Then the curtain moved around Daryl's seat and closing them both from view, but leaving Harry's legs still seen. Once they begun the procedure it's likely they'd close the curtains entirely. He cast a cleansing spell on the fabric curtains just to be on the safe side. Even wizards were suspectable to infection, and this procedure made it extra likely, so safety first.
"Fifteen minutes," Hershel commented, using his pocket watch to keep track of the time, he was meticulous in keeping it in optimal condition. He'd been rather lucky that Andrea had brought back two boxes filled with watches, batteries, and the things you'd need to repair them. It would eventually stop working when they couldn't keep at it – batteries couldn't be magically duplicated unfortunately – so there was a shelf life for it.
"Hey, you okay?" Daryl asked, his chin lying against Harry's shoulder.
Harry's eyes opened, peering lazily at Daryl, "I'll be fine," his voice though was tinged with suppressed pain.
"When was the last time you did accidental magic? When was the last time you performed magic?" Severus wanted to know.
"Haven't really done accidental magic, and I configured Portkey's, that's it really." Even that had been pushing it, Luna hadn't been happy either.
Severus frowned, glancing briefly at Harry's abdomen.
"What is it?" Daryl asked, recognizing that look. It was one Harry got when he made an accurate deduction about something that had been bothering for a bit.
"I'm wondering if it's his magic that's keeping the protective barrier up," Severus confessed, "Truthfully, there's been nobody quite as powerful as Harry as a carrier."
He then added, looking pointedly at Harry, "You need to release some of your magic, perhaps then the barrier will break down." Harry should have had massive outbreaks of accidental magic, the fact he didn't was rather impressive if he was honest with himself.
"He ain't in any condition to use magic," Daryl argued, he didn't think Harry could stand up straight, given the amount of sweat he'd been exuding he would be on the verge of beginning to become dehydrated if he didn't get something to drink. He wasn't in any danger right now, but it would become a problem soon, might even already feel dizzy, added on with the pain that disorientation can cause, yes, he didn't like Severus' suggestion much at all even if he knew without looking at Harry, he was already all for it. "The books warn against using it."
"This is true," Severus answered, "But witches have incidents of accidental magic, severe incidents whilst pregnant. It's why it's always advised to give a pregnant witch what they want. It's likely the only time they'd get away with murder." Severus told him dryly.
"But he's keep keeping the twins safe, always using magic," Daryl pointed out, recalling something he'd read in one of the books.
"Exactly, which means the shield should have dissipated, the fact it hasn't means he has too much of a build-up of magic. He needs to use a lot of that magic so that the shield deteriorates." Severus told him, he was only using educated guesses, it was all he could do. Harry was one of the most powerful wizards in the magical world. They couldn't use any magic on him until the shield came down, male pregnancies were far safer than a witches, mostly due to the fact it was literal magic constantly ensuring its safety, opposed to a woman's womb that needed no magic to caretake the child within it.
"The baby's heartrate has gone up, nothing alarming yet," Hershel informed Severus, who turned to look at the details, lips pursing.
"You're going to have to make a decision, now." Severus informed the pair of them.
"Take me to the door," Harry stated firmly.
"The door?" Daryl questioned, his brows furrowing wondering what his husband was up to.
"I'll be able to see the transformer substation," Harry said, groaning as he rolled off the bed, fucking hell, he was going to make sure he didn't do something like this ever again. Fuck that, the pain was becoming intolerable, how did women do this more than once? They're off their heads, it's the only logical explanation.
Daryl helped Harry off the bed, all but carrying him across the room and through the door. Hershel followed at their heels, keeping watch for the stats to ensure all was well. The stats followed above Harry as he moved.
"Is everything alright?" it was Andrea who spoke first, and managed to be heard above everyone else who was there's voices. The surgery was fuller than it had likely ever been, at least since the base was abandoned.
"You did this twice?" Harry said to Lori a look of disbelief and incredulity across his face, "You are mad. Completely and totally mad."
Lori laughed, Carl joined in, old enough to understand what was going on unlike his sister, Judith. "We often wish men could understand the pain of it, but I never thought it quite so literal."
Carol fully agreed, smothering her own amusement, her daughter, Sophia wasn't quite so restricted in her amusement.
Harry just gave them a deadpanned look, unimpressed with their words and laughter. Once they got to the front door of the doctors surgery, he noticed that there were even more people lingering around waiting for news. They all begin to look worried, at the state of Harry was in, asking what was wrong, if everything was alright.
Naturally Severus just ignored them, and conjured a stool for Harry. He could only just make out the electrical substation from here. Length wise it was like dozens of blocks away, but five minutes on a broom.
Daryl helped ease Harry down onto the stool, allowing him to lean back against him for comfort and strength.
Harry removed his wand, straightening up as best as he was able, especially considering he just wanted to curl up in a ball and die. How had humanity survived the dark ages? Oh, yes, their love for sex, which just so happened to produce babies. Then to the shock and fear of everyone, blue electricity emerged from Harry's wand, raising high in the sky, before the entire sky was alit with blue, thunder immediately begun, the difference in sudden temperature causing it.
"Jesus Fucking Christ!"
"Do not use the Lord's name in vain!"
"That's really loud! It's going to attract a massive hoard, with the likes they hadn't seen, not since the Green farm!"
"Why are you doing that?"
"What's going on?"
"Daryl? What the hell?" as if it was Daryl's fault.
Again and again, like fireworks, the electricity continued to exude from Harry's wand, and zooming across the sky to the electric substation. The loudness causing the very ground to shake, it certainly attracted everyone else's attention, as they sought answers to what was going on if they were nosy enough.
"Can you imagine what it would be like if it was done at night?" Lori said, watching the scene from the safety of the doctor surgery window. The sky was lighting up blue even in the daylight.
"Spectacular," Luna stated, stepping forward to watch as well.
"He's not a normal wizard, is he?" Lori asked, staring at the impressive display, "I've asked a few others, Percy primarily, they couldn't do that, could they?" he was far superior than they knew, everyone here underestimated Harry's capabilities when compared to any others.
"Well, they could, just not for this long," Luna said with her usual dreamy voice, the only thing more impressive was his execution of the 'Fiendfyre' spell. She could cast it, but not very long, she didn't like casting it either, but Harry? He was just…something else.
Everyone jumped at the next loud bang, "You know, now that this is happening, have you noticed we've not had any extreme weather since this begun?"
"Florida was known to have between eighty to one hundred thunderstorms alone every year, not including any other extreme weather patterns." damaging winds, hail, lightning, torrential rainfall, and tornadoes were the norm here, but they hadn't gotten anything of the sort. "Is that the result of the spells we have up on P.A?
Luna blinked at the question, "I don't believe so," she replied as blue lit up her face, as another torrent of lightening lit up the sky. "It's one thing to hide somewhere but it's another thing entirely to change the weather." The very idea did amuse her so. They truly thought so highly of Harry's abilities, didn't they? Then again, they had nobody else – until recently – to compare it to. Now they did have someone to compare it to, they were beginning to realize just how unique Harry was.
As if giving birth didn't solidify that in their minds.
"It's working, the shield's come down seventy-five percent." Severus told Harry, eyeing the lightening with shrewdness. Perhaps another ten minutes and they could get the children safety birthed.
"I'll go retrieve a stronger replenishing draught," Luna said, "Excuse me," with that she excused herself from the conversation and Apparated to the chest, before quickly opening it up and climbing down to retrieve the potions required. She didn't even give Merle a quick goodbye, he was sat in the furthest corner of the surgery, he was close enough thank you, he ain't want to see the twins come, that was a step too far from him, his thoughts about how they'd come into the world weren't exactly…pleasant to say the least.
He'd stay right here thanks.
Merle watched in a sort of morbid fascination, wondering what the heck was going on. How did the babies coming equate to Harry literally gathering up a storm. He'd heard the women talking, the statement had surprised him too. They'd been there such a long time, but had never suffered through any tornadoes or storms. It was fascinating, it made him wonder if they had been responsible for all the awful weather after all, global warming and all that shit they'd go on about.
He didn't even flinch a bit at the damn loud bangs, it did have him wondering if it would cause confusion in the walkers, or if they'd have more to deal with outside of the gates. More for the dragons, he guessed, and it was clear it was becoming a worry in ensuring the health and wellbeing of all the animals they had. Primarily the dragons with them being so big. They might need to go further out, but the chance of any animal let alone many being alive is quite slim.
"Thirty-five percent," Severus said, noticing that the heartbeats were increasing as well.
"Heartbeats is beginning to climb again," Hershel said, quite redundantly, his back and legs were aching something fierce, but he refused to be pulled from Harry's side. He'd been practicing for this for months on end, he refused to sit back now. This was once in a lifetime sort of deal, he was going to help a man give birth to a child, to two children, twins.
Severus gave a small sound of acknowledgement, "It should be down before there's any major problems." He should have foreseen this would be needed, but was grateful he'd thought of it in all honesty.
"Oh, you fucker," Harry flung himself from the small stool, clutching at his side, the pain was becoming increasingly more extortionate. "Get them the fuck out of me, now!" almost writhing in the agony of it, he really would prefer to be under the Cruciatus curse right now, it was less painful.
"You need to use up more of your magic, it's not letting the shield drop otherwise." Severus stated firmly, remaining standing and sounding and looking completely unbothered by the chaos around him. Hermione was going to be spending a massive amount of time here after the babies were born. This was one thing that would be guaranteed to get her out of the lab for a bit, well, except for the obvious, but they did that in the lab like fifty percent of the time anyway. Nothing in any of the books had suggested that someone had to be magically depleted for this.
It was an opportunity to write his own book, a more advanced understanding, far superior to the books they had now. With such a small population, its likely it wouldn't be needed for a couple of decades, likely more. However, it didn't hurt to have the education you needed, it was more vital than ever. He watched in concealed admiration as Harry straightened up onto his knees before firing off the spell again. It was only Daryl holding him that kept the wizard upright, otherwise he would have been face planting on the floor again.
"What is this shield you keep talking about?" Lori asked, venturing closer to them. "I presume it's something males get? Or do witches have them too?"
"The sac/womb the children are in, is made entirely of magic, it should have been draining Harry's magic along with accidental magic with the fluctuation of his emotions…but it seems neither happened. It affords the bearer more security when it comes to their foetus'. Like a battery, Harry's having to now use that magic to remove the shield because I cannot use magic to retrieve the twins until the shield is gone." Severus explained it in terms that she would understand, the upside of living in both worlds for a time.
"They're quite in distress," Hershel called out, watching the stats with caution now. "They need to come out, now."
A/N – One thing I totally regret about Harry keeping everyone actually safe is that Carol didn't get to transform into a total badass! She's one of my favourite characters in the show along with Daryl (I never did take to Lori, Rick, Shane or Dale (he was way too naïve the crotchety old fart) but oh well, I suppose that happens when you change things and especially having Sophia survive which ironically begun her transformation. I often wonder if she would have had that transformation if Sophia hadn't died...Read & Review Please!
Sure, she can fight, but it's not as bad ass as the Carol we all know she became :D although, it came at a cost for a while although I've never watched it further to know whether it's something she came to terms with or not. But I do love the fact she outlived most of them when most (including myself) would have thought she wouldn't survive long! but that's the beauty of the show it surprises us in so many ways, although later series the surprises weren't anywhere close to good!